Shaping Up
by TalysAlankil
Summary: When Sora comes to date night chased by someone trying to shoot him, Riku makes some important discoveries about his boyfriend. Fic for Soriku Week 2019, with the prompt "I like getting dragged into your messes"


Sora was late.

It wasn't exactly _unusual_, Riku thought to himself as he checked the time on his phone, drawing his jacket tighter to ward off the cold wind. Sora could be an airhead and lose track of time—he did it all the time.

But he'd never be late to a date before, and that was enough to make Riku worry as he stood outside the Duck&Dog Diner—the only diner in their little town of Star Crossroad. Riku was pretty sure he could feel the owners' stares on him through the window, either pitying him or worrying for him. They didn't even have any customers to distract them from his pining,.

Sora hadn't answered his texts, either, and that did make him worry. He could forgive Sora for literally anything, including forgetting about their date. But he couldn't imagine Sora avoiding his text. Which could only mean—

The sound of footsteps hammering the road startled Riku. Someone was coming towards him—running, actually. It was hard to see anyone in the dark, with the diner as the only source of light around, but after squinting for a moment, Riku saw a figure running down the sidewalk. And when they came closer—

"Sora?" Riku asked, incredulous.

"Can't talk, get inside!"

Riku gaped at him, but Sora didn't slow down; instead, he grabbed Riku by the wrist and dragged him up the steps that led to the diner's front door. Sora barreled inside, pulling Riku with him, and closed the door behind him.

"_Shit_," he said under his breath. Then, turning to the diner's bewildered owners, "Hi Don, hi Dippy. Is there any way to, like, barricade this place?"

The couple stared at him open-mouthed, and Donald—Don for short—started gesturing wildly at Sora. "What the—" The loud bang of a gunshot interrupted him, and he turned to his husband. "You know what to do." Dippy nodded, and hurried behind the counter, where he flipped a switch. Instantly, steel curtains fell over the window and the door, shutting them all inside.

All Riku could do was stare at them. "What the—"

Sora turned back to face him, but before he could say anything, several more gunshots rang outside, making him flinch. "Hey, um—" He bit his lip nervously. "I'm so sorry about this."

Riku frowned. "What do you—"

"They're after _me_. And—" Sora looked away. "Now you're in danger, and it's all my fault, because I couldn't—"

"Sora," Riku said firmly. He put a hand on Sora's shoulder, and cupped his face with his other hand, forcing Sora to look at him again. "How many times do I have to tell you? I _like_ getting dragged into your messes." He managed a smile. Admittedly, nothing so far had involved someone shooting at them, but Riku would never let go of Sora if he didn't have to. "Now why don't you tell me what's going on, and we'll figure it out like we always do. Together."

Sora winced. "Okay. Um—" He glanced at Don, then looked back at Riku again. "Remember last month, you asked me what was wrong, and I asked if it was okay if I took some time to figure things out before I told you?"

"How could I forget?" Riku had been panicked that Sora would break up with him that day—even after Sora had assured him it had nothing to do with questioning their relationship.

"Yeah…and remember how last night I said we couldn't meet because I was sick?"

Riku blinked, failing to see the connection, but nodded. "Okay?"

"Last night was the full moon." Sora tilted his head. "And last month. Obviously. That's how that works and all."

He fell silent, and it took Riku's brain far too long to connect the pieces. "Are you saying—" He couldn't say it. It felt _ridiculous_ to even say.

"He's a werewolf," Don said from where he stood, rolling his eyes.

Riku glanced at him, a questioning coming to his mind, but he suppressed it, focusing on Sora for now. "Is it true?"

Sora looked downright miserable as he nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wasn't sure—I thought you might freak out, or—" He sighed. "Or break up with me. Or worse."

The look on his face was a stab straight at Riku's heart. "Sora," he said. "I _love_ you. I would never—" He froze, taking in the shock on Sora's face and realizing what he'd just said, but he didn't have the time to think about that. "So those people outside."

"They're hunters," Sora said. "I messed up last night. Not—badly or anything. I didn't hurt anyone. But I was spotted by the wrong people." He sighed. "It's surprisingly easy to control, you know? Werewolf media are a bunch of lies. Which, I guess that makes sense, since they can't even treat normal wolves with dignity, and people actually _know_ those are real."

"Sora," Riku said, desperate for him to focus. "What do we do?"

"The diner can take anything those hunters can do," Dippy said from behind the counter.

"For a time," Don retorted. "We can't just wait them out."

Riku frowned at the pair of them. "Do I even want to ask?"

"Don's like…some kind of magic guy," Sora said. "He's been helping me figure out the werewolf thing since I got turned."

"How _did_ you get turned, anyway?"

"I don't know." Sora shrugged. "No one bit me, and Don says there's no werewolf blood in my family."

Don perked up at that, watching Riku with renewed interest. "It could have been shared, though. A strong bond, for instance—"

Before Riku could react, Don reached up and plucked a few hair from Riku's head—quite a feat considering how diminutive the man was. "Hey! What're you—"

Riku stopped when the hairs stuck between Don's fingers spontaneously caught on fire, emitting a bright, unnatural orange light. "I should have known," he said simply, returning his gaze to Riku, pointed enough to feel like he was drilling into Riku's skull.

His words made Riku's mind blank, sluggish. He couldn't mean—

Sora caught on as well. "Riku's—a werewolf too?"

Don held up the burned strands of hair. "This doesn't lie. And it makes sense. Star Crossroad is a place of power. Wherever those exist on Earth, there's always a werewolf line nearby, if not a full pack."

"But I—" Riku shook his head. "Wouldn't I know?"

Don shrugged. "You're still a teenager."

"I'm _eighteen_—" Riku automatically replied.

"Whatever. The shift can kick in in puberty, but sometimes it doesn't until adulthood. Especially with no one to show you how to trigger it, or even tell you that you're _capable_ of it."

Riku narrowed his eyes, suddenly regretting those times where the affable diner owner had gotten Riku to tell him about his family—or lack thereof, as his parents had both died when he was young. "Still, I—"

Another loud noise cut them off—not a gunshot, this time, but the loud _thump_ of something hitting the diner with enough force to make it shake.

"Oh, right," Sora said, his earlier, frenzied panic returning to his eyes. "_Shit_. So not the right time."

Riku couldn't agree more. "What can we _do_?" he asked again, as if doing so could bring about a better question.

"We have to fight them off," Don said. "Just Sora and I might not be enough, but—" he looked at Riku. "With _two_ werewolves on our side—" His eyes remained fixed on Riku. "Only if you're comfortable with it, of course, Riku."

"With—" Riku frowned.

"You can help him shift?" Sora asked, his eyes and voice both instantly brighter.

"I—hold on!" Riku protested. "We don't even know for sure that I'm really—that I can really—" If it was hard to say the words about Sora, it was ten times worse to say it about himself.

Him. A _werewolf_. And then what else?

But then Sora turned to him, his smile warm enough to melt away all of Riku's questions. "I told you, it's really easy to control the shift. Plus, i'm sure you'll be great at it, Riku."

Just looking at him, Riku knew he'd already lost the argument. If Sora wanted him to try, he would. No questions asked, a million times if he needed to. Besides, if Sora was a werewolf, perhaps this was for the best. The possibilities…

Riku gulped nervously. He didn't even know what werewolves could even do yet, and there were hunters out there determined to kill Sora for being one, and here he was, _fantasizing_.

"Okay," he said. "I'll do it." He turned to Don, putting on his bravest face. "Show me what to do."


End file.
